'Car crash scams on the increase' - BBC News

[R94N]

LINK - it's a video

Just something that I thought was pretty interesting; it's a trend that's supposedly increasing here in the UK, where people deliberately crash their cars into another car, and then claim on the other driver's insurance.

 

[Ttownbeast]

...

 

[R94N]

*nothing to see here*

 

[AppleMatt]

What I found interesting/irritating is the estimate that these scams add £44 to everyone's policy. Considering many adults are insured for under £500 that's a hell of a lot - you're paying 10% for crime.

I expect they get away with this more because of the (incorrect) widely-held belief in the UK that if you hit the guy in-front of you it's automatically your fault.

Wow, although it's obviously not a very nice thing to do I think it's pretty clever. It's not like just breaking in somewhere; there's quite a lot of logic involved.

I'm not sure I agree - they're just slamming on the breaks so someone runs in the back of them? How's that clever?

AppleMatt

 

[iJohnHenry]

Don't they have cameras on the busses there??

You would see the hordes boarding after the crash, would you not??

 

[SpookTheHamster]

This has happened to me. The car in front of me accelerated away quickly before slamming its brakes on. I hit the car at less than walking speed, there was no damage and the driver was quick to tell me that he was fine.

Fast forward a few months, and I got a letter from his solicitor informing me that I caused him a neck injury. Quite how I managed to injure him in an accident that caused absolutely no damage to the vehicles I don't know, but he'd got a certificate from a doctor so there was no possible way to argue the case without claiming the doctor was wrong.

 

[skunk]

Happened to one of my van drivers, too: he went into the back of someone at slow speed, virtually no damage to either vehicle. A few months later my insurance company called to tell me the car was a write-off. In this instance, however, the other driver was arrested: seems he'd reversed his car at speed into a brick wall after the accident, and the assessor (forewarned by me) had found traces of brickwork ground into his rear bumper (fender). Not a very clever man.

 

[R94N]

I'm not sure I agree - they're just slamming on the breaks so someone runs in the back of them? How's that clever?

Just my young naive mind. I'm sorry. I'm only 14

 

[Consultant]

Happened to one of my van drivers, too: he went into the back of someone at slow speed, virtually no damage to either vehicle. A few months later my insurance company called to tell me the car was a write-off. In this instance, however, the other driver was arrested: seems he'd reversed his car at speed into a brick wall after the accident, and the assessor (forewarned by me) had found traces of brickwork ground into his rear bumper (fender). Not a very clever man.

Few years ago I was parked in my car with a friend waiting for 7pm parking to start. A car started backing up pretty fast and hit my car.

No damage to cars but after he realized I have a passenger I collected money from the scammer. Should have reported the guy.

 

[Ttownbeast]

...

 

[gnasher729]

Wow, although it's obviously not a very nice thing to do I think it's pretty clever. It's not like just breaking in somewhere; there's quite a lot of logic involved.

What's clever about it? It's someone crashing into your car. There's a real chance of serious injury here.

 

[mlts22]

These schemes are quite common. The classic swoop and squat, the backing up at an intersection with no cameras, or just an obvious sideswipe and going to trial, word versus word. This makes big money and since there isn't much the insurance company can do, they just approve the claim and things go on.

Not just cars. Pedestrians try to do this too when people are turning in order to make injury claims.

Only thing you can do is buy yourself a dash mounted camera. There are cameras which can record onto SD cards, and 2-8GB at a time, removing the oldest footage when the card runs low on space. This is your best protection against the fraudsters. Make sure to not tell them on the scene about the camera otherwise they would physically try to grab it. Surprise them with it when it comes claim time, because your insurance company will be more than happy to press fraud charges with video evidence.

 

[neutrino23]

This has happened to me. The car in front of me accelerated away quickly before slamming its brakes on. I hit the car at less than walking speed, there was no damage and the driver was quick to tell me that he was fine.

Fast forward a few months, and I got a letter from his solicitor informing me that I caused him a neck injury. Quite how I managed to injure him in an accident that caused absolutely no damage to the vehicles I don't know, but he'd got a certificate from a doctor so there was no possible way to argue the case without claiming the doctor was wrong.

Usually the scam is perpetrated by a ring which includes a doctor willing to write up these phony claims. Neck pains and back pains are difficult to counter as no one but you knows if you really are in pain or not. Not like a broken bone.

 

[cherry su]

I thought about this a while back when I learned about the concept of insurance. I wondered why nobody in the states had done that, but at least I see that someone has tried to circumvent the system.